Politics

Canada will do what it must to keep B.C. from blocking Trans Mountain: Carr

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr is saying again the federal government will not entertain any attempts by British Columbia to stall or stop the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Carr was responding to a Conservative motion calling on the government to use every tool at its disposal to get the pipeline built and report to Parliament on its plans by Feb. 15.

Carr said the Conservatives are trying to manufacture a crisis and that B.C. is well aware that the federal government can and will do whatever it takes to exert its authority to have the pipeline built.

Conservative natural resources critic Shannon Stubbs, however, said the government has been all talk and no action on the file to this point and fears the government is happy to let the project die.

Kinder Morgan's proposal to triple the capacity of the Alberta-B.C. pipeline hit a new snag last month when the B.C. government suggested it planned to restrict the flow of additional oil while it studies its oil-spill readiness.

Carr said all B.C. has done is announce a plan to consult its residents about whether more research is needed, and that nothing has been done thus far that should stop the construction of the $7.4-billion pipeline expansion.